The Urban Transportation Commission wants to see narrower Austin roads, and they have research to back the idea up. Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution recommending that the city adopt a 1- to 2-foot narrower standard for traffic lanes in many of the city’s larger streets and roads during the body’s regular meeting on July 1. […]
City of Austin Urban Transportation Commission
The UTC is the body charged with advising the City of Austin’s Mayor and Council on transportation-related issues.
Posted inTransportation
Facing overwhelmingly negative feedback, city drafts refinements to residential permit parking program
Transportation and Public Works officials presented draft changes to the director’s rules governing the department’s Residential Permit Parking program to the Urban Transportation Commission on May 6, teasing a set of tweaks and formalizations rather than an overhaul of the current program The new rules will address how the department evaluates applications for participation in […]
Posted inTransportation
Urban Transportation Commission criticizes I-35 frontage road plan
The Urban Transportation Commission on March 4 unanimously passed a resolution strenuously recommending against the Texas Department of Transportation’s plan to widen Interstate 35 frontage roads downtown. The resolution specifically addressed the Central Austin project, which covers an 8-mile section of the interstate highway between U.S. Highway 290 in the north and State Highway 71 in […]
Posted inPlanning
Urban Transportation Commission recommends new strategic plan for downtown streets
The Urban Transportation Commission voted unanimously to recommend that City Council approve a new strategic plan from the Department of Transportation and Public Works for the streets of Austin’s small-yet-mighty downtown, along with a list of their own recommendations regarding the plan, during a meeting on March 4. The new plan, called the Austin Core […]
Posted inPlanning
Congress Avenue transformation plan gets support from Urban Transportation Commission
The Urban Transportation Commission has voted to support the proposed transformation of most of the downtown portion of Congress Avenue, turning much of the street into a pedestrian- and multimodal-focused corridor and removing almost all vehicular traffic. The recommendation to City Council was approved at the commission’s meeting earlier this week. The Congress Avenue Urban […]
Posted inRoads
Living Streets Program plans to expand operations
In an effort to build community and address equity across the city, Austin’s Living Streets Program is working to reenvision local streets as spaces where residents can walk, bike, gather and connect. Community members can apply by Oct. 4 for three different types of resident-led street activations: Neighborhood Block Parties, Healthy Streets and Play Streets. […]
Posted inTransportation
Urban Transportation Commission to seek more action, updates to trails plan
The Urban Transportation Commission has signaled it wants the city to take a more ongoing approach to evaluating how and when to add trail segments that had been long planned but were removed from the 2023 Urban Trails Plan. Commissioners opted Tuesday to postpone a recommendation related to updating the map of the 2023 plan, […]
Posted inTransportation
Council asked to consider ridership, access goals in revising e-scooter rules
The Urban Transportation Commission wants the city to rework some of its recent regulations of e-scooters and other micromobility devices but stopped short of spelling out what changes should be made. At its meeting this week, the commission approved a revised recommendation – crafted largely by Commissioner Spencer Schumacher – that cut several pages of […]
Posted inPlanning
Commissioners want action, precision on overlays for equitable transit-oriented developments
As planning and zoning strategies for areas around transit corridors are developed over the next year, members of the Urban Transportation Commission want the city to make the density of in-process transit-oriented developments one of the highest priorities. At last week’s meeting, the commission received an update from Warner Cook, a planner with the Transportation […]
Posted inTransportation
Commission looks into how Austin creates street crossings
There’s a simple explanation for why Austinites may have noticed more signaled crosswalks in recent years: There are more. A recent discussion on the state of pedestrian hybrid beacons in the city caught up Urban Transportation Commission members on the state of their progress last week. The city didn’t have tools to help people cross […]
Posted inPublic Safety
City commission looks at proposal for new communication center
The Urban Transportation Committee was presented last Tuesday with the prospect of a second facility to operate CTECC: the Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center. The purpose of CTECC is to facilitate more efficient communication and data sharing between agencies, by focusing on public safety through dispatch of law enforcement and EMS, transportation management with […]
Posted inTransportation
Transportation officials ponder whether prohibiting right turns on red will save lives
Crashes in Austin this year are seeing grim trends like motorcyclist fatalities that have exceeded last year’s and overall fatalities nearing 2021’s totals. However, the Vision Zero program, a framework that aims to end traffic-related deaths and serious injuries, pointed to some successes and shared ideas that other cities have taken up to improve roadways that […]